final project

BA 100 Business Plan Questions: 1. What is the name of your business?

Hint: When you think of the name of your business, make sure that it captures the spirit of the business you are creating.

2. What will your business do?

Hint: Imagine that you are explaining your business to a family member or a friend. The business should be easy to explain. Keep your description here to about 30 words or less.

3. What form of business ownership (sole proprietorship, partnership, or

corporation) will your business take? Why do you choose this form? Hint: For more information on the types of business ownership, refer to the discussion of the different forms of business ownership in Chapter 3.

4. Provide a brief mission statement for your business

Hint: Refer to the discussion of mission statements in Chapter 5. Be sure to include the name of your business, how you will stand out from your competition, and why a customer will buy from you.

5. Consider the goals for your business. List 2‐3 business goals for the first year,

and 2‐3 intermediate to long‐term goals. Hint: Refer to the discussion of goal setting in Chapter 5. Be as specific and realistic as possible with the goals you set. For example, if you plan on selling a service, how many customers do you want by the end of the first year and how much do you want each customer to spend? If you plan on selling a good, how many do you hope to sell?

6. Perform a basic SWOT analysis for your business, listing its main strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Hint: We explained above what factors you should consider in your basic SWOT analysis in Chapter 5.

7. Create a simple organizational chart for your business. Make sure that you

organizational chart indicates who will work for each manager as well as each person’s job title. Hint: Most businesses start off quite small. However, as you create your organizational chart, consider what your business will look like in the future. What different tasks are involved in the business? Who will each person report to in the organizational structure? Refer to the discussion of organizational structure in Chapter 6 for information to get you started.

8. What is your philosophy on leadership? How will you manage your employees

day‐to‐day? Hint: Refer to the discussion on leadership in Chapter 9 to help you formulate your thoughts.

9. Describe your target market in terms of age, education level, income, and

other demographic variables. Hint: Refer to Chapter 11 for more information on the aspects of target marketing and market segmentation that you may want to consider. Be as detailed as possible about who you think your customers will be.

10. Describe the features and benefits of your product or service.

Hint: As you learned in Chapter 11, a product is a bundle of attributes—features and benefits. What features does your product have—what does it look like and what does it do? How will your product benefit the buyer?

11. What pricing strategy will you choose for your product, and what are the

reasons for this strategy? Hint: Refer to Chapter 12 for more information on pricing strategies and tactics. Since your business is new, so is the product. Therefore, you probably want to choose between price skimming and penetration pricing. Which will you choose, and why?

12. Where will customers find your product or service? (That is, what issues of the

distribution mix should you consider?) Hint: If your business will sell its product directly to consumers, what types of retail stores will sell your product? If your product will be sold to another business, which channel of distribution will you use? Refer to Chapter 13 for more information on aspects of distribution you may want to consider.

13. How will you advertise to your target market? Why have you chosen these

forms of advertisement? Hint: Marketers use several different advertising media—specific communication devices for carrying a seller’s message to potential customers—each having its advantages and drawbacks. Refer to Chapter 13 for a discussion of the types of advertising media you may wish to consider here.

14. What kind of IT resources will your business require?

Hint: Think about the employees in their business and what they will need in order to do their jobs. What computer hardware and software will they need? Will your business need a network and an Internet connection? What type of network? Refer to Chapter 14 for a discussion on IT resources that you may want to consider.

15. Create a basic income statement (profit‐and‐loss statement) for your business.

Please use the Microsoft Excel sample spreadsheet that is found in the “Modules” section of the Canvas course (last module, “Final Project”). Once you complete the sheet, take a screenshot (or copy the table) and paste it to your Word document.